Hi we are David and Sheri Burns at honeybeesonline.com Please visit our Main Website at: http://www.honeybeesonline.com
ADVANCE BEEKEEPING COURSE JUNE 11, 2014 9am-3pm Central Illinois!!
Have you considered the importance of taking our one day Advance Beekeeping Course? I'll be joined by my good friend and fellow certified master beekeeper Jon Zawislak. Jon and I have written a book on queen rearing and we recently authored a two part articled published in the American Bee Journal on the difference between Northern and Southern bees. Jon and I will be teaching our Advance Beekeeping course June 11, 2014 here in Fairmount, Illinois and we have around 6 seats available. You don't want to miss this opportunity to be around me and Jon and learn about bees for a whole day. Click here for more information.Check out our entire list of beekeeping classes we offer by clicking here.
Welcome to Long Lane Honey Bee Farms Online Lessons! Visit our MAIN WEBSITE AT: http://www.honeybeesonline.com We have a complete line of hives that we build right here in Illinois. We offer classes, sell queens and much more. Give us a call at: 217-427-2678. Our hours are: M-Th 10am-4pm, Fri 10-Noon Central Time.
Hi, thanks for stopping in on our website and learning more about beekeeping. Every where we go people will see the signs on our truck and ask me about bees. Most people tell me that they’ve always wanted to keep bees or that their dad or grandpa kept bees and now they’d like to keep bees too. It is amazing how many people are becoming beekeepers.
Today, I want to share several important uses of a 5 frame nuc box. But before I do, let me share 3 things: 1) We have added a third basic beginners class on March 30th. We are also offering classes on March 9th and 23rd, but these classes only have a few openings, so we’ve added March 30th. These classes are all on Saturday from 9am – around 3:30 central time. They are held in our new beekeeping education center. It’s very comfortable and right here on the bee farm. Click here to read more about our beekeeping classes. Since there are many places to take beekeeping classes, we have detailed information as to what you’ll receive from taking one of our classes. Just click on Why Take Our Beekeeping Class
Lesson 133: Using A 5 Frame Nuc To Support A Hive
Another way a 5 frame nuc can be helpful is because it has frames of resources that at any time can be transferred over to a weaker hive. If a larger hive is running short of pollen or honey, a frame can be transferred from the nuc. Or if a weak hive needs a shot in the arm of brood, a frame of brood can be move over.
The 5 frame nucs can be placed anywhere even behind the support hive. In a good year, the smaller nuc must be inspected often. Since there are only 5 frames, you may have to pull out a frame of honey and share it with a weak hive or extract it and fill a couple of jars. Also, it is fun inspecting the smaller nucs because there are only 5 frames which means it is easier to inspect with only 5 frames. In fact, I think learning to work bees on a 5 frame nuc is always a great way to start. You can use your 5 frame nuc to mentor potential beekeepers. We are often asked to speak at schools and we use a single frame observation hive to take to class. We always go to one of our nucs to pull a frame because with only 5 frames it is easier to find the frame the queen is on. A large hive has 20 brood frames and 10-30 honey frames.
It is also a good idea to have an empty 5 frame nuc available to take to capture a swarm or to move frames out of a hive that is so large it might swarm unless you make a split. Every beekeeper will benefit greatly from having a couple of 5 frame nucs ready to assist you in your beekeeping endeavors.
We use 5 frame nucs in our queen rearing operation. We are in full queen rearing operation by June and our field is sprinkled with hundreds of nuc boxes used as mating nucs and starter hives.
Now, I realize that someone might be thinking about using a 5 frame nuc as a hive all year. Here’s the challenge, it will grow and you’ll need to give them room to expand or they will swarm if they become congested. We do sell additional deep 5 frame boxes that are used to go above the bottom box. Can you make this a hive? Yes, the challenge will only be that you’ll need to add three or four boxes and a 5 frame nuc is only 9” wide. Our standard Langstroth hive is 16 1/4” wide. So the nuc only has a 9 x 20” base and if you stack 5 boxes on top, it could blow over. You will have to find a way to keep the 5 frame hive secure against the wind if you choose to add 3 or 4 additional boxes on top. One option is to use a tie down strap and secure it to a pallet or use two large tent pegs in the ground to secure your strap to and carry it over the top of the 5 frame hive. Other than this challenge, 5 frame hives work fine.
Before we leave you let me invite you to look at our special hive kits that are available.